


Love on Fire

by Blakpaw



Category: Underfell - Fandom, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Mentions of racism against fire monsters, Mentions of racism against monster in generel, Other, Reader X underfell Papyrus, Reader had a past relation ship with sans, Reader is a fire monster, Underfell AU, mentions of past violence, ship fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24674173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blakpaw/pseuds/Blakpaw
Summary: You and Sans used to date in high school, but the relationship didn't last long. You remained good friends after the breakup, but you lost contact when him and his brother moved to Snowdin.Years later the barrier is broken and you're loving on the surface now. And by sheer chance you and Sans are neighbors. Oh, and you just so happen to work together. You become close friends once more, and everything is great.Except there's one problem.... You have a massive crush on his little brother.
Relationships: Past Reader/Sans, Reader/Papyrus
Comments: 8
Kudos: 91





	1. Home on the Surface

You met Sans on the playground when you were nine years old. The first thing he ever did to you was shove you on the ground because you called him fat. You retaliated by knocking out the last of his baby teeth.

You were best friends from then on.

Sans liked people who were willing to fight for themselves, and who were willing to stand up and call him on his bullshit. You liked people who didn’t lay down and take insults, and who knew when to throw a punch. It was perfect.

Well that, and Sans had a disposition to liking fire elementals. His dad was friends with an elemental named Grillby, who your distant uncle Stantin knew, who your mom disliked. Grillby was a pretty cool dude to Sans, so Sans liked fire elementals, and you just so happened to be one of the few fire elementals in The Capital.

You used to think Sans was pretty cool too, you’d never met a skeleton before. He was funny, even if his jokes were a little stupid, and he was willing to get into trouble with you.

And boy did you two get into some serious trouble.

Between shoplifting from local markets and vandalizing school property you two had a wild time through middle school. You two were the biggest punks around, you wore leather jackets over your stripes, and you liked the way finger-less gloves looked around the fire of your hands.

And then puberty hit and both of you had the stupid idea that you’d fallen in love, or something. You’re still not sure what you were thinking, dating Sans, the biggest goof of them all, who literally couldn’t take anything seriously, it seemed.

You and Sans fought a lot when you dated, you’d get mad about his lack of ability to commit or take something seriously, and he’d get mad that you expected him to change because you were dating. Which would then lead you to storm around your house burning everything you could get your hands on, and lead to his ever stubborn silent treatment before you eventually made up.

That being said, it was still a really great time, you shared a lot of laughs and a lot of fond memories from those times, and when you broke up in your junior year, after dating since the start of your freshman year, things got a lot better again. You had more fun when you weren’t worried about him being committed anyways.

But… well halfway through your senior year, Sans’ dad just vanished. Your best friend was left raising his kid brother in a crowded area, trying to balance school, work, and being extremely scared he would suddenly vanish too before he was even out of his last stripe. Eventually the stress got to him, and he up and left town, moved all the way across the underground.

He said goodbye, of course, because he’s not a total asshole, but he only told you he was leaving the night of his big move. He didn’t stay long enough for you to really say goodbye, or ask where he was going.

You haven’t seen him since then, and it’s almost been ten years. You missed that big old goofy skeleton, he was your closest friend. You wish he could see you now. Everything is so much more boring without him these days, but you’ve come a long long way from petty theft and spray painting.

Your closest used to be full of leather and dark colors and spikes, and you still had all of that stored away somewhere, but it wasn’t what you outwardly advertised anymore.

And also because you were pretty sure it would unsettle the humans. You were already unsettling to them, what, being a creature made of fire and all, and humans were still adjusting to monsters as a whole. The leather get up would just make them even more uneasy.

It was still hard to believe that a little under two months ago a small human child had fallen underground and set you all free. A child. You hadn’t seen the human yourself, but you had heard about them. Frisk, filled with determination to escape and save every one, so strong and stubborn they drove half the kingdom and the mad king sane again while simultaneously breaking the barrier down in a single day.

And today was possibly the second most important day of your life, aside from the day you first saw the sunlight or the moon. You were finally moving into your house on the surface.

While all the monsters had a hard time convincing humans they were safe, with their sharp claws, gnarled teeth, and varying levels of LV, the fire monsters had the hardest time convincing humans they were harmless. Humans took one look at the dancing flames of your species and decided they had to make extra, double, triple sure none of you were going to burn their entire city down the moment you stepped inside.

It was exhausting. And yet, after that you had to help your mom move in, which took way too long, if you had any input to give.

But today? Today was your moving day. You had finally gotten the last of your stuff gathered from your old childhood home, under the cold stone ground, and moved into your home, on the bright warm surface.

All of the homes in the district were two stories, with quaint little mail slots on the door, though the houses aren't extremely large. The downstairs had only a kitchen, a living room, and a very very tiny side closet. The upstairs had a bedroom, a spare room, and a room called a ‘bath-room’. You personally didn’t know what a ‘bath-room’ would be used for, but you had once heard it involved a lot of water.

You opted to never enter that room.

But otherwise the home was everything you could ever need, as a monster new to life on the surface. And the home was so inviting. The carpets were a soft blue, and the walls eggshell white. Somewhere under the mess of boxes there was a couch and a recliner, as well as a very nice wooden coffee table.

The kitchen was small, but you could make do with it, and your bedroom was upstairs, it was a little cramped with unpacked things, but the bed was big enough for you to sleep on comfortably, and the widow gave a nice view of the park behind your house.

You placed the last box down in your living room, looking around at the things piled all over the place. You’d moved into the middle of a suburb, one of several that the humans had decided would be set aside for monster friendly districts while they worked out the last of their problems.

In a way, you thought idly to yourself, it’s not too different from home in The Capital. Just… a little more free range, you lamented to yourself. You know you had a bit of an adjustment period to go through, you’d already heard rumors of water that came from the sky. You shivered at the thought, and hoped you’d never be caught out in it. And yet… well you also really wanted to see the way the surface looked when it rained. It was just so much to worry about, and yet so much to look forward to.

Currently you had to look forward to introducing yourself to your new neighbors. You were a bit tired, and you had a lot to unpack, but you also were eager to be able to talk with other monsters again.

You loved your mother, but… well, things just weren’t the same with her these days. You wanted to get out and socialize properly, maybe by some stroke of luck find some of the few friends you made since high-school. Though you doubted it…

The underground wasn’t exactly nice. Monsters dusted, hunted and killed each other. For fun. For survival. Whatever the reason, monsters killed and took and hurt. It wasn’t hard to assume the long stretches of silence weren’t because they were busy. People vanished all the time in the underground.

And in the end you were no different. You weren’t a LOVE hunter, or an EXP grinder, or anything of the sort. But you fought to survive, you fought dirty and wild and unclean. You fought to see a better tomorrow, and you won.

In the end, you were lucky to get away with only a LV of 3.

You shook those thoughts away, though, they weren’t necessary, they weren’t wanted, and they were intrusive. Today was your big day and you're going to enjoy it even if you had to force the world to let you. You were going to go outside, in the sunlight, and meet with rehabilitated monsters. The people who didn’t kill and maim for fun, who dropped there dastardly ways the moment they found freedom.

You nodded to yourself, sealing the deal privately. You were going to change into something that didn’t smell as smokey from all your hard work and then you were going to head out and meet your new neighbors, and you aren’t going to let your past or theirs interfere with it.

After a brief lapse in time, and a lot of digging through cardboard cases, you found yourself in a cozy pale green sweater and a comfy pair of jeans as you made your way around the neighborhood.

You discovered a very shy and closed off Loox sharing a fence line with you. They didn’t seem too keen on talking, which was fine, understandable after everything. Healing would take time, and after brief introductions they found an excuse to step away, hurriedly closing the door on you. You didn’t miss the way they peeked through their blinds as you turned to leave.

On the other side of the yard a giant owl-ish monster named Knight Knight greeted you. She was very kind, despite her scars, and was a little sleepy seeming, but she had to cut your meet and greet short. She had to work in less than an hour, so she had to get herself ready. You said goodbye and went across the street to meet the neighbor you lived directly across from.

The first thing you noticed was the roof had christmas lights dangling over the edge. Except all of the lights were an almost unnerving shade of red instead of the various other colors a string of lights should normally be. The second thing you noticed was that the door had a second mail slot. Both had engravings in them, but you decided not to look too closely. You didn’t want to look like a creep standing on some strangers front lawn looking at their door. Especially if it risked triggering a monster’s fight or flight response.

Coming from where they did, flight was not often favored.

With a deep breath you smiled and raised your hand to knock on the door. Despite being made of fire your hand made a hearty thump against the wood, before you lowered it down to your sides again. You didn’t have to wait too long as you heard shuffling towards the entrance, a low rumbling voice from inside trickled out to you.

“Wuddya wan’t now! We ain’t lookin fer no new shit ‘r anythin’, I told yer before an’ I’ll tell yer aga-” the demanding voice rang out before it came to a halt as it’s owner froze in place after swinging the door open, the anger contorting his round face vanishing into surprise as he saw you. You couldn't hold back your own reaction, your fire flaring into a dangerous plume upwards from your head as you lay eyes on the one monster you never expected to see again.

Somehow, it’s not a surprise at all that Sans hasn’t changed much in the past decade. He looks almost exactly the same, and yet different. For starters he definitely added on a few pounds, but he still stood at a mighty and full six feet and two inches. His round skull was still mostly smooth and unmarked, with barely a hint of a scar, however one of his large, sharp, teeth had been replaced by glittering gold, a small crack along his nasal bridge, and his lazy brows seemed ever furrowed down in a slight scowl.

The old leather jacket he used to wear was replaced by a thick parka that framed his face in yellowish fur, but you aren’t surprised to see him wearing an even thicker looking sweater underneath it, missing the single black stripe he still wore the last time you saw him, now solid scarlet.

There was no mistaking it, not for a single second. Sans was there, alive and well, despite the harsh conditions of the underground and the years of uncertainty, he was still there.

“.... _____...?” He asked softly, his voice slurring around your name in that way you remember it always did. His red eyes wide and uncertain. Like he couldn’t be sure he was talking to the right fire monster.

Yeah, right, like fire monsters were abundant enough to confuse, especially one like you.

You nodded a bit, just as stunned as he is, trying to find the words you wanted to say.

The tense shocked silence between you was shattered by the most ungodly shrieking voice you had ever heard. Somehow, the voice was deep and rough, and yet it cracked around the words in an ear piercing way.

“SANS! WHO’S AT THE DOOR!? WHY HAVEN’T YOU TOLD THEM TO LEAVE YET!?”

Sans snapped out of it, shaking his head softly and sighing, rolling his scarlet eyes a bit as he turned around to yell back, his deep timber booming through the house, “IT’S THE NEW NEIGHBOR, NUMB-SKULL!”

“SO!? TELL THEM TO LEAVE! WE WERE BUSY!” The loud voice gripped back.

Sans sighed again rubbing at his forehead and mumbling something under his breath before he shouted back, “THEY’RE MY FRIEND!” he billowed.

You softly rubbed the place your ear would be if you had them. Really all the shouting was unnecessary. From the sounds of it they were only, what, a room away from each other??

However, it seemed like what Sans said had definitely caught the attention of the other loud force in the house.

You couldn’t see well past Sans’ broad frame, but one moment you were alone together, and the next, before you could manage to compose yourself enough to speak, a second skeleton peered over Sans’ shoulder at you.

He wasn’t much taller than his sibling, perhaps just over half a foot. His face was thin, and somehow he managed to look gaunt even for a skeleton. Or maybe he came off that way because his features were the opposite of everything Sans had.

His cheekbones were pronounced and sharp, his jaw square, his brows furrowed into a deep scowl. The left side of his face was marred by a long scar. Two cuts ran through his socket, one reaching only an inch or so above and below the socket, but the second reached higher before running all the way down towards his, for lack of a better word, lip, leaving a small crevice that pronounced his scowl.

His eye lights were their own kind of interesting, small and glowing, the undamaged eye was clear, a thin vertical slit cut through the center of the eye, like a glowing red cat eye. However the second eye seemed hazy at best, the pupil completely missing in the bright light.

You didn’t have to ask to know who this was. There was only one person he could be.

Papyrus wasn’t exactly what you expected, but the last time you heard about him from Sans’ mouth Paps would have been in three stripes. He would have just ended middle school.

Papyrus arched a questioning brow at you, his eyes tracing your flames, glancing at your sweater and your boots. You know when someone was eyeing you up to deduce your threat level. He was checking you over for signs of weapons on your person.

Lucky for you, you don’t need to carry weapons to be dangerous. That being said, the adjustment period for surface life was clearly a lot longer for some monsters. Then again, Papyrus and Sans were still young when they went off on their own. They had to learn how to survive somehow. And it seemed having caution on their side kept them alive all this time, so why drop it now?

You kept your hands out of your pockets, putting them in there would make it look like you were reaching for something. But, before much else could happen Sans moved to elbow his younger brother, a look of displeasure on his face. He didn’t even make contact as the lanky skeleton dodged out of the way, Sans sneering at him “Gimmie some space, asshole.” he grunted, having to squeeze his gut past his brother. He glanced back at you, motioning for you to come inside with them.

Papyrus huffed and turned his head up as you were invited in, glaring at his sibling as he walked past, but without the heftier skeleton in the way you got a better view of the lankier brothers outfit now.

He’s wearing a black, thin, turtle neck. His form seemed almost feminine as the cloth clung to his ribs and hips, dipping in towards his spine a little, though his neck also had a thick red and tattered scarf around it.

He was also wearing skinny jeans that clung to his thin legs… and the brightest blood orange colored six inch heels you’d ever seen. And he had the gloves to match.

They clung to his calves, ending just under his knees, all the way down the slender length of his legs, clinging to the thin width of his ankles. The way his feet had to curve in those heels didn’t look comfortable. The gloves were just as tight on the hands and wrists, but flared out where they ended at the elbow.

Despite all of that he was clearly experienced in wearing such wild heels, spinning on his feet and marching after his brother with grace.

He really wasn’t what you expected.

You followed them inside after a brief moment, curiously glancing around as you closed the door behind you. It wasn’t much different then your house design wise, but it was far more put together. Much more lived in.

The couch must have come from the underground, you think idly, admiring the furniture, it already had a groove in the shape of Sans’ ass, and had a few moth bitten holes to it. It smelt a little like old mildew and cleaner, like someone had spent hours scrubbing it down in hopes of erasing the smell of water damage and rot.

You noticed the dining room table set off to the side seemed to have a complex 3D puzzle on it, partially put together. You weren’t sure what it was supposed to be yet.

Sans pulled out a chair, grunting as he sat down, and Papyrus headed for the kitchen.

He didn’t offer to make you anything to eat or drink.

Good. You didn’t want him too.

Humans had already offered that enough, it was good to find someone who knew the cultural importance of food for monster kind.

You could hear Papyrus shuffling around in the other room, the clatter of something being taken out and set on the stove top. You didn’t know what he was doing, and you didn’t ask. You took a seat at one of the empty chairs at the table. Conveniently it seemed they had three chairs around the table at all times. Perhaps always expecting guests to arrive unexpectedly?

“S’ uh… s’ been a long time.” Sans starts, sorting the puzzle pieces on the table by general size and shape. You watch him work as you cross your arms and rest them on the table.

You nod in silent agreement, glancing at the little plastic pieces. They're mostly clear, but the light of your flames reflects off of them.

“It really has been…” you comment idly, inspecting one of the pieces curiously. It looks brand new, they probably bought it recently. It surreal to think you all have the ability to do that now.

Your eyes flicker from the piece over to Sans, “You know, you never did tell me where you were going…” you start, keeping your tone distant.

Pretending you hadn’t been worried made it easier to act casual.

Sans still paused, though, glancing at you cautiously. He knew that tone of voice well. He didn’t pause long, though, continuing to sort the pieces as they made small clicks of plastic on wood.

“An’t nothin’ personal… hones’ly surprised yer never heard abou’ us, actually…” he commented, glancing between you and his work, “We uh… became preddy well known ‘n Snowdin.” he told you. He pushed one of the piles out of the way and began to sort a new one by it, dividing the pieces even further.

“My lil bro became second in command’a th’ guard.” He informed you, shooting a smile at you, “N’ I met up with Grilb’s again. Became a local ruffian really.” he laughed a little, perhaps remembering something fond.

You do have to admit you hadn’t heard about Papyrus but…

“I didn’t really have time to catch up on anything that wasn’t close to home.” You lament to him, smiling awkwardly back, “I was caught up bad between work and school and… other stuff.” you mumble softly.

Sans doesn’t pry, and you’re grateful for that. You don’t want to talk about the ‘other stuff’.

“So your kid brother became second in command of the guard. Impressive.” You perch your head on one of your hands, the flames practically merging despite being separate entities.

“What about you Sans? You get any work? Go onto a higher education?”

“Ah… dabbled n’ sciences fer a lil bit… mos’ly dropped it, though. Took up sentry duty in’a forest.” he explained, rolling his hand as he spoke. He shrugged his massive shoulders, “Not much’t say.” He mumbled.

Which you doubted, after the passage of so much time. But fair is fair. If you won’t share, neither will Sans. He never was one to give out anything, information or goods, without being given something first.

The conversation drew to a close, though, as you glanced towards the kitchen, the clack of heels moving closer to the doorway. Papyrus appeared in the entry way with two cups of hot tea, by the smell of it you had to assume it was Golden Flower Tea.

The lanky skeleton set one cup down on the table by his brother, and Sans gently put a hand up.

“Thank’yer boss, but I ain’t thirsty.” He explained gingerly, even as the lankier skeleton shot him a glare. Two pairs of red eyes flickered towards you briefly before looking down at the puzzle as Papyrus sat down.

Papyrus may not have offered you tea, or even handed you the cup. But it was awful convenient how Sans just so happened to not be thirsty, and it was set down so very close to you.

And it sure would be quite wasteful for no one to drink it. You may as well take it.

You take the cup gently, cradling the warm tea in your hot hands. A drink never went cold for long in the grasp of a fire elemental. It’s why monsters like Grillby did great in the business. Food was always warm, no matter what.

Regardless, though, the warmth of the drink felt nice seeping into your molten core, and the magic imbued in it made it possible for you to drink it without coming to harm.

You did not thank Papyrus, because he did not offer the tea, but if you hummed softly as you took a sip then they could take it how they pleased.

Papyrus did not scoff at you for taking the tea, it was up for grabs at that point.

Thus was the nature of monsters.

The silence lasted a while as Papyrus took Sans sorted pieces and gently worked through them, figuring out what slotted into place and where. It was easy to imagine this was normal for them. Sans doing the lazy minimal work, and Papyrus working through the task relentlessly.

Shame you never got to properly meet him before now.

Before you could do anything of the sort, though, his voice snipped through the air.

“So, you two were talking of my occupation, earlier.” he commented in a rather snooty manner as he clicked a piece into places before he hunted for the next part. He continued to speak, “While I can not blame you for wanting to share The Great and Terrible Papyrus’ previous successes, I do believe this is a matter best left private.” he stated, glaring deeply at Sans.

“As generous as the humans have been, and as much as the denizens of the underground have…” he paused, before making a disgusted face, “ have ‘changed’,” he grumbled, lifting one hand to make a quote unquote symbol, “I would rather not risk out safety by spreading the information around carelessly. Especially with the humans so on edge. They’ll be looking for any chance they can find to jail us.” he told them, fully confident in his assessment.

“And, also, I rather not send someone prone to gossip around to spread the word to nearby monsters. The last thing we need is to be harassed by them.” he tacked on.

Sans let him go on, smiling lazily as he ranted on. He then motioned to you with a big hand.

“_____’s a friend.” Sans reminded his little brother, “We went’a high school toghe’ther. They ain’t gonna blab nothin’ t’ nobody.”

Papyrus eyes you up suspiciously before glaring back at his far heavier sibling, “You’ve never mentioned them before, nor have you ever visited them or written to them.”

“Like I do that wit’ anyone.”

“Sans that’s not the point! You haven’t had contact with them in years! You don’t know if they can be trusted!”

“Ho boy, ‘ere we go again…”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!?”

You silently glanced between them as this went on… an old argument, then, it seemed.

You stood up, “Would you look at the time, I best be headed out.” you state casually, “I have to start unpacking.” you smiled.

“Good idea, sparky.” Sans mumbled, but he was quickly being drowned out by whatever nonsense Papyrus was screeching at him.

You left the empty tea cup on the table, casually walking out of the door as Sans began to shout back. It was a little later in the day then you had expected, anyways. You really did need to get to unpacking.

As you cross the street and head towards your new home, you can’t help but smile a little bit.

Things were never boring when a skeleton was around.


	2. Vince's Diner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to update this chapter. I volunteer full time, and draw almost every day, so balancing all of that with writing too is... an adventure. i had planned to try and have this out at least a month after the first but...^.^'
> 
> But don't worry, large gaps or not I don't plan on ending this any time soon.

Morning rolled around smoothly the next day, boxes still litter your cozy little home, and the living room is a nightmare to navigate when you’re still drowsy and smoke trails from you while your fires brighten and thrash slowly to life across your body.

Not that your flames completely extinguished, heavens no, that would be a death sentence, but fire elementals tended to burn a little lower as they rested, so they didn’t burn up all the energy in their bodies.

You stumble your way towards the kitchen, the thin trail of smoke filling the house dwindling slightly as you grab some burnables. You crumple the pine-cones and the pine needles in your hand sleepily, watching them dissolve into ash, your flickering flames greedily lighting brighter with the fuel.

The moment of peace is short lived however as you suddenly flare up, stumble and trip, falling flat to the floor as a horrible sound fills your kitchen, the screech of a high and reedy machine beeping in a horrible tone-def chorus. You stumble to your feet, cringing at the horrid noise before you spot the source of it. Some tiny circular device on your wall flashing a light in tune with its beeps.

In your panic, you throw a hand out, sending a magical attack of heat towards it, and the beeping grinds to a distorted halt as the plastic melts.

Silence befalls the room, and you are left leaning against your counter, chest heaving as your soul pounds as wild and fierce as a drum.

What in Asgore’s green garden was that!?

You shuffle towards the melted device, peering at it from a distance in case it starts shrieking at you again. You can see wires and the works inside of it, now also melted and rendered useless.

You sit there for a while, before slowly heading for your phone, still eying the melted thing. They gave you a number to call in case anything went wrong inside of the home, such as a, what they call a ‘clog’, which you're not sure what that is, or if there's any power issues, mechanical issues, or really any troubles at all. You would mark a strange screaming machine down as a trouble.

You end up having a very long, very egregious conversation with this human, the landlord of your home. They seemed very upset at you for melting this ‘smoke detector’ of theirs, to which you had to helpfully remind them you are made of fire, smoke is unavoidable with you.

A few more minutes of throwing lines back and forth and your landlord relented telling you they’d remove the rest of the horrible little devices.

With that taken care of, you no longer feel the need to burn anything to rekindle yourself, not after that flare up, so you opt to get yourself ready for the day. Judging by how this morning had gone so far, it was going to be a very long day.

You unpack a little more, spending most of the morning focusing on that before stopping off in the kitchen to finally actually eat something. With most of your room unpacked, the living room boxes half sorted, and a granola bar eaten, you finally head out the door to get to your first day of work.

You leave the door unlocked for the maintenance man despite your deep discomfort doing so, but apparently the landlord didn’t have time to give him a spare key.

To be honest just knowing a human would be in here unsupervised made your core prickle and you flames flutter nervously.

But you had a job to do.

Which, to be honest, you really aren’t sure what to expect of this job anyways. You’d had your interview before you even moved into your house, back when you were staying with Mom while you helped her move and unpack, but they were gracious enough to give you time to settle into your new home.

They were, after all, not humans.

The humans were trying to be accommodating, but at the end of the day they had unreasonable expectations from you, in your opinion.

They wanted you to start working before you had even been given your own permanent home, or they wanted you to wear extremely protective gear so you didn’t set anything on fire, or perhaps they were concerned if a fire monster should really be around a fryer, or other ridiculous things.

While Monster’s were still rough around the edges, they had been more willing to wait. On the promise that you’d be their sharp and on time the first day you were scheduled to come in, they had willingly given you the job.

And you intended to keep that promise after they so graciously offered you a chance at the position.

You dressed up comfortably but you made sure you didn’t look as ruffled as you felt, and then off you went to the nearest bus station. It was roughly a thirty minute walk, and it really was a little later in the morning, but you didn’t mind the warmth of the later hours of the day. It was peaceful, and after this morning you needed a nice walk and some time for yourself in a warm environment. The bus was supposed to arrive soon, and it’d drop you off about fifteen minutes away from work.

If you’d calculated your timing right, you should be there on time, maybe even a few minutes early.

You ended up getting a job at a small local diner, run by a small possum named Vince. The place was cozy and nice, a simple and rustic color pallet, with classic monster dishes to offer to monsters and humans alike. Muffet’s pastries were sold as desserts in the quaint little place, and the spiders seemed happy to have someone to sell to again. For a long time Muffet and her spiders had struggled with sales. Daring humans loved her treats, and monsters rekindled a lost adoration for them.

On top of that, they featured Golden Flower Tea, Burg and Fries, some classic mushroom stews, made of the unique mushrooms of the underground, and other various dishes monsters had made while underground. Your kind had to get creative when you were trapped thousands of miles beneath the earth.

The diner, simply known as Vince’s, was open from early morning to late night, it had a breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu, though your shift was nearer to the lunch and dinner portion of the day all the way to closing time.

There was also a bar for that later shift in the day, it opened around half way through your shift, from what you were told. You also heard around the dinner portion they had a live show.

So all in all, you liked Vince’s. It was rustic, cozy and warm, and it had a lot of your personal favorite comfort foods. You were happy to see any place, monster or human, catering to more fire elemental tastes. They had a whole category on it for the menu, offering hot coals, smokey pinecones and needles, a good helping of wood chips.

It was nice to see, really.

Vince wanted you to dress somewhat formally, so you went in with a button down shirt and some nice dress pants you dug up. They were a little big, but you managed to find a belt to get them to fit. You wore your nicest pair of sneakers.

This first shift was going smoother than expected. you had an experienced server at your side for your first few tables, showing you the ropes and reminding you to ask for help should you need it. While you were still learning the placements of the tables and their corresponding numbers it had gone very smoothly, in your opinion. You didn’t have any complaints yet anyways.

You couldn’t help the brief flare of excitement when you saw the bartender arrive, another fire monster, it was rare to meet one who wasn’t related to you. By the time he got their the sun light was dimming, and the street lights flickered to life.

You didn’t really get time to say a proper hello to your coworker, despite wanting to get to know him, you were just too busy running tables and serving food, passing out the drinks he made and the food from the kitchen. He was a pale orange with yellow mixed into the center though the edges of his flames seemed to have some purplish hues. His glowing white eyes were rather narrow, and the shape of his mouth was altogether unpleasant, but the glasses over his eyes added a charm to him.

You’d seen nicer fire monsters, and you’d seen scarier ones. He just seemed stern more than anything, but such is the way of the underground. You had to temper your anger just right, or you’d get hurt, but you couldn’t look too nice either, or you’d get hurt anyways.

But that was beside the point. All that mattered right now was that he made a mean drink and it kept the customers satisfied. You’ve been working pretty hard to keep them that way, and you’re sure the slight smell of smoke is starting to cling to your clothes, maybe a tinge of sulfur, the smell of a well worked fire monster. Though you hoped that the sulfur smell was much more subtle than the smoke.

There's nothing more embarrassing than smelling like rotten eggs when you were serving food products…

You’re placing a plate full of steaming hot food in front of a customer carefully when you hear the sound of a mic turning on, the click of the speakers coming to life and the low hum of electricity.

You step away from the table, pausing briefly to glance over at the stage in the back of the room. It was lit comfortably and had a stool in front of the mic, and you watched as the tiny form of Vince scrambled on top of the stool so he could reach the device. He was scraggly. His tail was crooked and his muzzle had a scar running down the side, showing off some of his teeth.

He gripped it with his tiny paw-like hands.

“Good afternoon, folks!” he called out, voice high and ready, greeting like gravel. In a way it was rather similar to Sans’ brother, but without that deeper undertone or the fluctuations between deep growl and high screeches. Some in the crowd greeted him back with happy little chuckles. It was mostly monsters, but you could pick out several human faces.

The restaurant's lights dimmed, so the stage bar, and, well you and the bartender stood out like sore thumbs.

A few eyes flickered to your burning form, standing in the back of a dark room, before returning to the stage.

Vince continued to speak, his grubby mits clutching the device before him as he attempted a friendly smile, “We have a good friend here, some of you might have seen his... occasional show at Mettaton’s.” he told them, glancing off stage.

“May I present the undergrounds favorite Pun-Meister, Sans Serif Gaster!” he called out, motioning to the stage.

A few monsters seemed excited, clapping their hands as you just went a little wide eyed.

Hah…

What the fuck?

It seems now that you’ve reconnected with Sans, he’s going to be plaguing your life a whole lot more. An entire truck tone more, even! How delightful.

Your rotund friend makes it onto the stage with an easy but mildly threatening grin, Vince hopped off the stool and clambered his way off stage, and darting off into the dark, making a smooth exit back to his office.

Sans’ eyes flickered to you, but you just gave an awkward wave before turning to get back to work. You both had work to do, and now was the least ideal time to try and chit chat or get worked up about sharing a workplace. The faits had some kind of plan for you in these skeletons, or something.

What are the chances of you guys being neighbors and coworkers???

Pretty slim to nothing, you’d think. Yet here you were!

“Evenin’.” Sans slurred into the mike, chuckling a little bit, shoving his massive hands into his pockets, leaning in a casual way towards the mike.

“Guess their ain’ no point ‘n stalin’, eh?” he asked, lazily grinning as he glanced around the room.

However your attention is drawn fully away from the stage as a customer flags you down with a polite raise of their hand.

The confusion and hustle of the restaurant had you just this side of too distracted to really pay attention to his joke set, but the few jokes you do catch don’t surprise you with their pun-derful nature.

The one that really sticks out to you is a joke about a slime monster. Long story short, ‘Jello’ is a surprisingly easy pun to use as a greeting.

Despite the corny level of jokes he tells it’s often his inflection of his actions as he tells the joke that adds to the hilarity.

There's something deeply hilarious about telling stupid jokes with dead pan features. Sans is kind of the king of that.

But as his set comes to an end, so does your shift, and you sigh in relief as you begin to gather the last of the plates strewn about the empty table tops, you’re certain by now you smell faintly of sulfur, and your flames flicker in tired lazy curls.

As your back is turned to the door, you’re whipping down the polished wood of a table, removing any droplets of drinks or food left by the last customers who occupied the space. You hear the door open behind you, turning towards it.

“I’m sorry we’re closed-” Your voice catches in your throat.

Ah.

The gangly and long form of Papyrus paused in the doorway, arching a brow at you, looking for all the world that it was rather suspicious you were here at all, conveniently working in the same place as his older brother.

Right after finding out you guys were next door neighbors.

You could see pretty immediately how negative this encounter was going to be, especially if the quality of distrust in Papyrus’ asymmetrical eyes was anything to go off of.

“I’ve come for my brother.” He informed you in a terse tone, his jaw jutting a bit as he tensed it. His eyes flickered to the empty stage, and you glanced over as well, clearing your throat awkwardly.

“Oh um… well, I suppose he’s in the back?” You offered, smiling in a way that wasn’t warm nor threatening.

Growing up how you all did, you learned pretty early how to make complex and subtle messages from the quality of your expressions alone. Showing too much was dangerous, after all.

Papyrus hummed, glancing back at you.

He was still in those gaudy bright blood orange gloves and heels, the scarf he was wearing, also blood orange, up high on his neck, practically touching his jaw. Clearly, he had a favorite color.

He was wearing a black t-shirt, which did not at all match the gloves or scarves, and he was wearing those skinny jeans that clung to his hips and bagged around his legs, before being swallowed in his knee high heels. The belt buckle was gaudy in it’s own way, a golden skull glaring from his hip.

You two were both glancing each other up and down, taking in the attire and composure of one another.

Papyrus seemed as grumpy as per usual, his dark eyes narrowed down at you as you stared back up at him, defiant and closed off. The hostility between you two in that moment almost felt palpable. At the small gathering you had last afternoon with them you had gotten the idea that Papyrus wasn’t too keen on you, seeing as he blatantly told his brother he didn’t feel you could be trusted.

But now it seemed… even more tense, suspicion in his dark eyes.

The silence went on for a while as you two waited for Sans to show himself from beyond the stage, and the lanky skeleton kept his arms crossed of his chest, glancing at the stage with an absent air to him, tilting his head in a haughty way.

Somehow, despite him not even looking at you, he managed to make you feel that he thought of you as something beneath him. It was a familiar, but irritating, feeling.

“Right well, if you want I could go check on Sans-”

“I would rather like, actually,” he interrupted you, “if you stayed away from my brother.” his angry eyes burrowed back into you, as if he could see through your flames into your core.

“Don’t think I’m not onto you, campfire.” He scoffed at you, a sharp finger pointing at you, “I know what you’re doing here, and I don’t much appreciate it. Leave me and my brother alone, before I make you.” He snarled, his face twisting into a snarl, the scar connecting from his socket to his lip enunciating the curve of it, showing off the sharp teeth behind his boney lips.

You feel a flare of hot unease from the center of your being, your flames raising higher as a trickling of smoke curled from you. You narrow your glowing eyes, and in the dim of the restaurant you could see the color of your flames bouncing back at you from the white porcelain bones of the skeleton monster.

“I would suggest you don’t threaten me, Papyrus.” you growled at him, “I’m not doing anything wrong,” you remind him, “It’s not like I knew-”

“If you didn’t know, then tell me, smoke stack, how is it you just so happen to not only live across the street from me and my brother, but you also just so happen to work with him. Rather convenient after what he explained to you of my previous position last night.” he told you, his voice cracking and wavering around the words, but despite the uneven quality of his voice he managed to keep it threatening.

You glare up at him still, another hot flare, and you're sure your cheeks are burning brighter in your heated anger, the glow of your core under your face felt hotter than ever.

You point your own finger back at him, the glow illuminating his features even more, “You listen here you overgrown pile of bones-”

But of course you can’t get a word in edgewise before you’re interrupted again, but the voice you here a second time is far less aggravating.

“Everythin’ alrigh’ o’er here?” Sans’ thick and sleepy voice asked curiously as his steps came to a stop a few feet away, his heavy hands in his pockets as his gaze flickered between you two.

Papyrus cleared his throat, wiping his hand on his chest before tucking his hands behind his back, “There you are brother. We should be going, it’ll be late by the time we’re home-”

“Sure sure, can’t a guy have a few moments t’ talk to a friend though?” he chuckled, motioning to you. The look Papyrus gave then was completely unamused, deadpan.

“I… suppose.” Papyrus grit out through clenched teeth.

You couldn’t help giving him a sarcastic smile before looking back at Sans, “We were chatting about how it’s kind’a crazy we work together.” you explain to him, trying to act less tense then you felt. Something told you telling Sans the truth about the near argument would put you deeper and Papyrus’ ire.

And you were already tired of his attitude as is.

“Yeah, ‘s fuckin’ wild huh?” Sans chuckled, moving to lean against the wall, “Who would’a thought.” he reached to playfully hit your shoulder, “I mean, s’ kind cool.” he shrugged a bit, motioning lazily with his hand, “A’fer all’a these years we gett’a bond a lot more.” he grinned at you.

You nod a bit, trying your hardest not to look at Papyrus, you were sure his asymmetrical gaze was locked onto you, his glowing red eyes following your every motion as you tried to just have a decent conversation with his brother.

“Well it’s nice to catch up with an old friend.” You tell him, smiling at him, “I’m just happy to see you doing so well at all, considering how we said goodbye all those years ago.” you shook your head softly, “By the Angle, you actually found a job that suits your personality and everything, it’s kind of cool.” you grin at him.

Sans chuckled at you a bit and shrugged, “If there's a will there's a way.”

“Brother that implies you have a will at all.” Papyrus grumbled, but hey at least the guy had a sense of sarcasm. The sarcasm catches you off guard, you choke a bit, a soft snort escaping as you covered your mouth, Sans openly laughing a bit.

“Damn, you caught me.” Sans sighed, dramatically slumping over, “How will I ever go on.”

“Brother that is the laziest pun you’ve told yet.” Papyrus grumbled, “You didn’t even try.”

“Who says I did?” Sans grinned at him, his golden tooth glittering in the flickers of your flames.

You roll your eyes before glancing at the clock on the wall-

“Shit!” You hiss, quickly rushing to finish cleaning the table you were at, Sans’ grin vanishing as he looked over at you.

“What’s up sparky?” he asked worriedly, hands shoving back into his pockets. Even Papyrus arched a brow your way, curious to your sudden frantic nature.

“I’m gonna be late to the bus station!” you grumble, rushing towards the kitchen to deposit the last of the leftover dishes, rushing towards the exit. Sans reaches out to catch your arm, and you almost elbow him on instinct. Luckily you manage not too.

“Woah woah, slow down their, bud.” he grumbled a bit, “We can give you a ride-”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Papyrus screeched then, looking for all the world, offended his brother even offered you the ride, “I am not letting them in my car and that is final!” he told him demandingly. Sensing another fight about to spark, you give a tense smile at them.

“Thank you, Sans, but I think I prefer the bus.” You glance at Papyrus, who’s still glaring at his brother, letting your flames die down enough to briefly shrink your arm so you could slip it out of the hefty skeletons grip.

Another awkward smile and a quick goodbye from Sans, and rush off, the hefty skeleton looking baffled that you managed to slip free so easily.

You learned a few new tricks since you last saw him, you’d feel bad for ditching him with his over angry brother a second time later, but you seriously didn’t want to be in a car with that guy, and you were so close to missing your damn bus!

As you settle into your seat on the bus, though, your mind idly wanders. You can’t help but feel a little curious about the lanky skeleton, even if you weren’t too fond of him.

Just what exactly was Papyrus so paranoid about? And why the hell did you keep running into these two skeletons?

And most importantly, why did some part of you still want to get to know Papyrus? The guy clearly hated you, and yet…

You wanted to know more about him, a skeleton who would just as quickly sarcastically joke with his brother as he could threaten you out in the open.

Curious indeed.

Ugh… You’ll sleep on it, and worry more about it in the morning, when you weren’t so tired and baffled from work.


	3. Cry wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Papyrus sure have some sort of feelings for each other right now. To bad they aren't the warm fuzzy type.
> 
> A.K.A: Papyrus thinks your stalking his brother, and you have a lot to say about that. To bad the guy you wanted to talk to about it was related to the dude.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh I'm so sorry this took so long to update. I was working on the outline (I so far have up to chapter 6 vuagly planned) but a lot went down since September that just had me needing to take a break from this. Between working on some collaborated fics and art on my tumblr I just didn't have a lot of motivation or time for it.
> 
> As you can see its been so long my general writing style has changed, for the better I hope.

Things have felt… off since Papyrus’ sudden visit to Vince’s a few days ago.   
  
Growing up in the underground you got used to the feeling of eyes trailing you across the Capitol. Considering who your mother was you drew a lot of unwanted attention, dozens of hungry beady eyes boring into your soul.   
  
It made your fires flair with discomfort, billowing bright and dangerous for a brief moment when you first feel those eyes lock onto you.   
  
Your first instinct is to glance out the windows, one of which was directly to your flank when you felt that pierce of eyes on you. You try to catch a glimpse of anything, anything  _ at all  _ that could account for the chills jolting through your molten hot core. But there's nothing. At least, nothing looking directly  _ at _ you. You see a few kids playing outside across the way in the neighbor's yard, but you don’t get the feeling any of them care about you enough to look at you.   
  
There's only one place that draws your attention despite you not seeing anything.   
  
The house across the way seems to loom like a threat over you, over your own home and all it stands for. It’s a strange feeling, especially when the building is a shelter for your best friend, but it’s not an unexpected one, considering his brother.   
  
You stand at the window for a while, your flames reflecting from the glass, shining your own color back to you. You stare at the house a little longer, looking for any sign of motion before you close the curtain, moving to close the next, and the next after that. Swiftly and quickly you plunge your windows closed, rendering you back into privacy once more.   
  
You glare at the windows again before you turn to look at what you were doing before the panic and fear plunged into you for that brief moment. It was a puzzle box, simple and sweet, not meant to be a challenge but more of a little stimuli to keep your spirits up. Puzzles were, as everyone knew, an important part of monster history and culture. Their history, much like the rest of your species' history, is sad and twisted.   
  
At first it was just a popular artform among your people, Humans were enjoying paintings, plays, and sculptures while Monsters were making labyrinths, mazes, and hidden treasures protected by a gauntlet of traps. Most of it was playful, the monsters in the labyrinths would play games with the humans, the mazes were like modern day haunted houses, and the treasure troves were never made to be deadly. It was just supposed to be fun.   
  
It was sad, now, to see how they had twisted those games in their legends, made their play into death defying feats.   
  
When monsters were locked underground, puzzles became a way to remember the better times. But when no one was left to remember, it became a pass time, something fun to do with the limited space they had. But when hope began to wane more and more, when the blue stones, top to ceiling, became red with the weight and fog of LV it became a  _ weapon _ . A  _ tool _ for you and your kind to capture and kill. Be it eachother or a human they had no care or eye for a difference.   
  
They only knew one goal and one goal alone.  _ Survive by any cost. _   
  
But here you are, gently picking apart a box that had once held the potential to kill you, plucking it apart in gentle pieces slotted together perfectly, each always able to return seamlessly where it belonged.   
  
As you slid the small magnet the box provided for you across its surfaces your mind wanders again, more relaxed now.   
  
Monsters are a lot like puzzle boxes, you think to yourself gently, they’re very unassuming on the outside. Simple and easy to understand. But the more you search through them, as a person and a physical being, the more you uncover.   
  
Sans is a wonderful example of this.   
  
Outwardly he seems as if he were a lazy slob, even back when you were yongue. But under his laid back griping exterior he was a lot more than that. He was thoughtful. He was quick witted. At times he could even be surprisingly generous and giving. He seemed so weak and yet his body cradled a myriad of scars to attest to the opposite.   
  
Or maybe even Asgore.   
  
He seems so cold and harsh, vile and cruel, more than half mad with LV and grief. But there was more to him than that. He was kind, at times, and he had a gentle streak in him, a passion for delicate things like flowers and birds. He was twisted up in his dark thoughts, and he was far from good, but he had his moments.   
  


They were like puzzle boxes. Maybe a little broken, maybe missing a few pieces, but solvable and just as complex. Hiding secrets inside of them, each with a different answer for how to get to their core. Just waiting for the right person to solve them.

And then there was Papyrus. He seemed less like a puzzle box and more like a trap, sharp, deadly, and primed to kill-   
  
You’re dragged rather suddenly out of your train of thought as you feel the last piece of the puzzle shift apart, the top of the box finally unlocking for you to open and receive your prize. You gently slide the top open, and peer inside of it silently. It’s nothing much, but they rarely are anything too impressive. It’s usually just small collectible things.   
  
A box of custom made cards for the puzzle brand lay inse, their tiger themed, with a golden cat carved out of the black box. A small custom coin, a commonality for puzzle boxes, is nestled under them. You retrieve both with care, the metal of the coin and the gloss of the cards reflect color nicely.   
  
You turn the coin over as you place the cards down. One half has the company's name, on the other side the tiger's face engraved into it glares at you as if it were full of rage and anger. You were it’s enemy, a foolish thing which solved it’s secret…   
  
Or perhaps, it was just a wild animal.   
  
People were puzzles. But sometimes a tiger was a tiger.   
  
You gently place the coin down and slowly glance at the organized mess on your table. Softly you gather them into your hands and begin to work on piecing the puzzle back together, to be taken apart again someday once you forget it’s secrets. The pieces clicked gently into place until the box was just that once more. Simple and smooth.   
  
You sigh softly to yourself, reaching up to run a hand through your flames, humming briefly, glancing at that window again.   
  
You  _ knew _ it was him. There was no one else it could be. Sans certainly wouldn't watch you like that, and no one else had any reason to spy on you. Lest you had attracted the eye of a random stalker, but still. You were sure it had to be that stupid angry skeleton.   
  
You glanced at your clock, tapping the deck of cards on the table softly, before you sighed. “Damn. This is gonna be a long day.” you mumble to yourself, placing them back on the table and gently sliding them across its surface as you stood up, headed for the stairs.   
  
You had work to do today, and that required you to catch the bus on your way up, seeing as it was across town from where you lived, and you didn’t have a car yet. Not that you would be comfortable with one anyways, seeing you were, well, entirely made of fire. The bus already had you nervous enough as it was. But it was the easiest way for you to get to work, after all.   
  
You’re quick to get dressed, throwing on your work attire smoothly as you head out to the bus stop, your phone in hand as you glanced through some social media posts, scrolling with idle boredom. It’s actually a really nice night, too, the sun is setting, casting a warm light casting a gentle glow on the horizon. It’s really just a comforting atmosphere, even if you hold a few tensions from the earlier feeling of being watched. But it wasn’t too bad of a day, all in all. It was nice to enjoy the surface for what it was after not having it for so long, and your flames crackled with a comfortable, happy warmth.   
  
That is until a familiar figure steps onto the sidewalk in front of you, swooping out from behind you, stopping you from taking a single step more. The figure is looming above you, his eyes narrowed into a look of sheer disgust and anger, the scars on the left side of his face only deeping the look. Papyrus clearly has something on his mind to tell you, in fact he looks like you kicked his dog or something else horrendous. You find yourself returning the glare ten fold, crossing your arms.   
  
“Do you mind? I have places I need to be.” you tell him huffily, and he scoffs at you, shaking his head, as if you’re the one doing something unreasonable here. Sheesh, talk about being stuck up your own ass.   
  
“I do actually. I have some very important things to say to you, so you better fucking listen you bruning pile of ash.” he growled, his keen scratchy voice grating on your ears in the worst way. God did the guy gargle nails with his mouth wash?   
  
“Like what, exactly? I haven’t done anything, and you’re going to make me late to work.” you tell him, motioning to his body, “So can you move?” His glare deepens at you, and you can feel the urge to roll your eyes building.   
  
“THAT! Is what I want to talk to you about! Your stupid choice of work! You move in next door to my brother and you  _ just so happen _ to get a job in the same building as him?” He puts his hands on his hips, leaning down to be closer to eye level with you, “Supposedly you’re some old friend but he never even mentioned you in all these years? It seems a little more than coincidental to me!” Papyrus scoffed again, his eyebrows twitching. He pointed one of his long spindly fingers at you, “You’re  _ stalking _ him aren’t you? Or is it black mail!” he snarled.   
  
“What!?” you shout out, unable to believe the words coming out of him. Was he serious? Did he really think after so many years you crawled out of the underground, found a guy you didn’t even know was still alive, stalked him, and then blackmailed him into giving you his workplace and home adres??? Paranoid much??   
  
“I literally wouldn’t have anything to black mail your brother with! And if anything, you’re the one stalking  _ me _ !” You snap at him, pointing your own flaming finger at him, lighting up his pale bones with the color of your flames. Your fires crackle with the anger burning in your soul. You waggle said finger at him, “You were watching me this morning, I fucking know you were!” you accused back, “You’re the one peeping through windows, not me! ”   
  
He squaks at you, looking baffled and down right offended by your accusation. He growled a bit, “I did no such thing! You have no proof!”   
  
“You don’t have any either!”   
  
“Just stay away from my brother! He doesn’t need some flaming creep to follow him everywhere!”   
  
“I’m not following him!” you shout, growling before you move to the side step and pass him. You really just didn’t have time for this, “Just get out of the way you lanky asshole, I’m going to be late to my bus!” you tell him, shaking your head.   
  
“Like I care!” he shouted back, and you could hear his heels clacking after you. What the fuck was this skeletons problem? Papyrus had seemed to hate you from the start, and now here he was trying to pin stupid, baseless blames on you. Stalking Sans?  _ Blackmailing him?  _ Seriously?? Whatever, you had other shit to deal with.   
  
You arrive at the bus station, the dark street lit only by the lamp above the seat, it flickers on occasion, and you find it amusing. Humans were so powerful, so strong. And yet their power system is so flawed, nothing like the Core from the Underground. It was almost funny, that they could be such mighty beings, that they could destroy monsters in one fell swoop, and yet they couldn’t even keep their lights going strong. You might have been able to enjoy the silent warm night more, your flames reflecting on the glass of the bus station in calm content, if it weren't for the monster so intent on following you.   
  
“Not really helping disprove this whole stalker thing.” you murmur under your breath, pulling your phone out to check the time. You're five minutes early, the bus should be here soon. You lean back on the glass, looking at the dim sky, keeping your eyes off the skeleton with everything in your power.   
  
You can almost hear the sneer he makes as he scoffs, “I’m making sure you don’t pull anything.” he defends, which would almost be funny if it weren’t such a poor excuse or if he wasn’t such a pain in the ass. This guy was second in command of the guard, but he couldn’t even come up with a good motive to follow someone?   
  
Speaking of his guard position, “Don’t you have a job of your own to do, or something?” you murmur, glancing back at him, “Do you seriously have  _ nothing _ better to do then follow some monster around for kicks?” you laugh a bit, rolling your eyes again. You glance down the street, wondering if that damn bus would get here any faster. Papyrus huffs, his hands coming to the sharp point of his hips again.   
  
“I work the day shift.” he murmured off handedly and you snorted a bit, causing him to stomp one of his heels down like a child throwing a fit, “I do!! Do you not believe me!?”   
  
“I never said I didn’t.” you laugh again, watching him go red in the face with barley bridled rage. You smile, flames dancing in amusement, “I just think it’s awfully convenient for second guards to work in shifts. And the fact that you have the day shift so you get all night to stalk me.”   
  
“I AM NOT STALKING YOU!”   
  
“Same logic you used on me, shit bag.”   
  
He grumbles as he crosses his arms, glaring at you, and you shoot him little more than a glance before you keep your eyes on the road, waiting. Eventually, the bus pulls up into view. Papyrus has been silent for awhile now, which is good because you weren’t sure you could stand his ugly voice any longer. You stand to get on, glancing at him, “Don’t blow a fuse,” you snort a bit, stepping into the vehicle and paying for your ride “You might catch on fire too.” you shoot out as the door closes.   
  
You swear even through the door you can hear him making a ruckus about it, but who cares. You happily find your seat on the bus, settling into it and sighing a bit, glancing at the darkened sky.   
  
Sheesh, that guy was a piece of work. How did Sans even put up with having a brother like that? If that was your brother you woulda kicked some sense into his punk ass a long time ago. But whatever, every family was different, you supposed. You just hoped Papyrus got his head out of his own ass soon and left you alone.   
  
For both your sakes.   
  
You just really hoped this drama would blow over. Sans was your best friend, or well. He had been for a long time, and you hoped someday you could be best friends again. You missed all the laughs you guys used to share, before everything went to shit all those years ago. You wouldn’t let Papyrus come between that, either. His angry ass was too paranoid. Silently, you decided you’d have to find time to talk to Sans in private about his brother's behaviour and his budding stalking of you, it was likely he didn’t know what his little brother was up to.   
  
Because you were certain the asshole was definitely watching you from home, and that was fucking bullshit, you just don’t do that. You should be allowed to enjoy the peace and quiet of your house without the fear of being watched for everything you do. You sigh to yourself as the world passes you by out the window, the city alive in the dark. You haven’t even made it to work and you feel tired, but you know if you try to nap now you would miss your stop.   
  
It feels like the bus ride is far too short, and you're brought back to the moment as it’s brakes screech to a stop, but from there it was a short walk to work. You walked down the sidewalk, passed a few alleyways, brick buildings and store windows giving you something to look at as you went along. You make it into the staff entrance two minutes early today, and you’re just glad Papyrus didn’t hold you so long you ended up being late. You would never live that down, and you would have to explain to Vine you were late because you were arguing with the neighbours. The time allows you to briefly enjoy a cup of Golden Flower tea, before you’re ushered onto the floor to serve.   
  
You’re just glad you have Sans’ jokes to fill the busy night as you’re rushing from table to table. With how the after noon had been going so far it set your teeth on edge. The familiarity of corny knock knock jokes and good puns makes it just a pinch better.   
  
Finally as you serve the last customer of the night you approach the stage, practically dating over to get to Sans before his nosey brother gets here. At least this time he wasn’t here before closing, already looming by the door as he had been one or two nights since you started work here. Your window was brief, you had to take it now, as you were sure Papyrus would be here soon.   
  
“Sans! Hey.” you murmured, and he glanced at you, arching a brow at you curiously. Sans turned to face you, grinning a bit.   
  
“Wa’ssup?” he questions in his usual slurs, hands shoving into his pockets as he raised a brow in your direction. You glance around quickly before you pull him aside, towards a dark corner beside the stage.   
  
“I need to talk to you about something.” you whisper, glancing at the door quickly before meeting his eyes again. He looks a bit concerned. Good, he should be, because his brother is being a huge creep, “It’s about Papyrus he-”   
  
He laughed, cutting you off, “S’ jus’ about Boss then?” he shrugged a bit, “Yer had me worried, thought someone had slipped some threatnin’ note bout the skeleton tellin’ shity jokes under their plate.” he grinned at you. You glare at him, but his smile only grows wider.   
  
“I mean it Sans this is serious, you’re brothers being a jackass!” you hiss out, your hands coming to rest on his shoulders. You wanted to shake him, but he was so much heavier than you, it would be no use.   
  
“Eh, jus’ how he is. Don’ take it to personal.” the hefty skeleton shrugged casually.   
  
“Sans he-”   
  
“There you are brother!” A familiar voice rings out. You hang your head down as you hear that stupid voice again. It felt less like it had been a few hours and more like it had been a few minutes. You swore you could feel the shadow looming over your shoulder as he came up behind you. You lift yourself back.   
  
“Hello Papyrus.” You grit out.   
  
“Why are you holding my brother like that?” he asks, and you glare as Sans as he starts to snicker.   
  
“We were talking.” you grumble.   
  
“About what?”   
  
“Bout you bro.” Sans interjects before you could stop him, and you turn to glan over your shoulder, giving Papyrus a smile that was more like a cringe. He looked very unimpressed at you. You raise your hands off Sans’ shoulders and step away, and the fucker is  _ still _ laughing at you. He looks between you and Papyrus and bounces his brows at you.   
  
You wish you could throw something at him.   
  
“Why were you talking about me?” he asks, glaring at you still. Jesus, if looks could kill he would have slaughtered you a million times over. Clearly Sans either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care about the weight of the glare sent your way.   
  
The worst part is both are perfectly within his character to do. The asshole.   
  
“Jus’ bout how yer an asshole.” he winks at his brother, the younger sibling’s mismatched eyes narrowing down at you even more. Wow you didn’t think that was even possible, his eye lights look like they could burst on fire. You clear your throat, clasping your hands in front of your lap.   
  
“Anyways I would love to chat more, Sans.” you shoot a look his way, he just smiles and shrugs, “But I have to go now before I miss my bus.” you state, moving over towards the staff room to clock out. Almost as soon as your back turns you swear you hear them whispering together. What about, though, you aren't quite sure.   
  
You huff a bit as you shake your head. Damn, that plan was a bust, for now. You would need to get Sans’ number and text him about it, but that would be hard to do when Papyrus seemed to be five steps behind him at any moment. You’d have to be quick about it, to really think it through.   
  
I mean you understood needing to protect those you loved, especially in a world where you guys came from, added onto the fact a family member already vanished from their lives in this dusty world. But that didn’t mean you appreciated the scrutiny, especially since all of the monster kind had been working hard to reform, tired of the constant killings and dust shed. But Papyrus didn’t seem ready to take that risk.   
  
You sighed as you headed out into the dark, moving towards the bus stop, plopping down onto the seat. You sighed, relaxed against the glass wall, hand resting on your stomach. You just hoped he didn’t try anything more stupid then stalking you, but his track record with you wasn’t looking good so far. Generally you loved puzzles, but this one just sucked ass. It was miserable and draining.   
  
You run a hand across the back of your neck and close your eyes for a bit, not quite napping but just taking a moment of silence to yourself.   
  
You had a feeling you wouldn’t get betting a lot of those any more.


End file.
